Ecuador, located in northwest South America, is characterized by its ethnic, cultural and geographical diversity, including Andes highlands, Amazon jungle land and the Galápagos Islands. Despite recent economic reforms, inequality persists. Poverty and malnutrition disproportionally affect women, children and indigenous communities.

ChildFund Ecuador’s Early Child Development program aims to overcome the biggest barriers to holistic child development, such as poverty, parents with little or no education, and lack of access to basic services. With local partner organizations, ChildFund works with parents, caregivers and communities to ensure that infants have the nutrition, care, safety and stimulation they need to achieve their potential.

Our Responsive Parenting program plays a vital role in providing early childhood development opportunities in remote parts of the country. Our work in Ecuador has shown that as individual caregivers gain and use knowledge, skills and behaviors to nurture their children, their confidence rises and they become stronger advocates for their children’s needs, and ultimately champions for children’s rights.

Our integrated approach for improving conditions for children continues into the school years. We involve children, their parents and educators to encourage active participation at school, including social and intellectual development.
We also help spread the message that children deserve full educations, violence-free homes and schools, good nutrition and other necessary resources. We also support operational plans for providing education after natural disasters like
2016’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

Older youth living in Ecuador can be agents for change in their families and communities, but they need support in gaining technical skills, job readiness, leading peers, problem-solving and building confidence. Our programs help teens gain this knowledge, as well as prepare them to make informed choices about sexual health and reproduction. Youth ages 13 to 18 also continue their financial training with the Aflateen program and explore concepts such as self-esteem, their rights, gender-based violence, drug abuse prevention, environmental protection and job-seeking skills.